KIEV: Ukraine’s national bank has banned financial institutions from handling new Russian banknotes that feature landmarks from annexed Crimea. The 200-rouble note should not be exchanged or handled, said the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). The note is illustrated with two scenes from the Crimean port of Sevastopol, a naval memorial and the nearby ruins of the ancient city of Chersonesus.
The new rouble notes were presented last week, three years after President Putin announced that Russia was seizing the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine, enraging Kiev and much of the world. Mr Putin called Sevastopol a “legendary city” in his annexation speech, in reference to battles fought there during the Crimean War in the 19th century and the Second World War.
